Warped
by Consu1tingCrimina1
Summary: Born with intelligence that would leave an elder breathless, Cherrypaw has always lived an unfriendly existence, until she met Stormpaw. Slowly he befriends her and unlocks emotions in her that she has never experienced before, but something has changed in Stormpaw. And she never expects the ending, with her life bleeding away into the dusty ground. -Full Summary Inside-
1. Chapter 1

**Full Summary: **

Born with intelligence that would leave an elder breathless, Cherrypaw has always had a lonely and unfriendly existence, until she met Stormpaw. Slowly he befriends her and unlocks emotions in her that she has never experienced before, but something has changed in Stormpaw. He's become rude and mean-spirited and because of her new role as a 'friend' it's up to Cherrypaw to figure out why. As she investigates his behavior she discovers a dangerous secret and is pulled straight into a fight she previously had no idea existed. She never would have expected things to end like this, with her life bleeding away into the dusty ground. She was no where near prepared to see the impassive look on Stormpaw's face as the life slowly bled from her or for the feeling that came with it.

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**AN:**  
So this is my first story on here, so I'll hope you'll excuse any errors you find whilst reading.  
I've worked really hard on this story and universe and I have most of the story mapped out in my head already!  
I've made a publishing schedule for this story and there should be a new chapter every Sunday unless for some reason something comes up and I'll try to alert you guys or publish as soon as possible! So anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'd love to get some feedback!

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_Disclaimer:_

I do not own Warriors. If I did, my stories would all be canon and Firestar would have died waay before _The Last Hope_.

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_**Chapter One**_

Her first memories are rather dull, and she has sectioned them off to a small section of her brain to idle and most likely never be recounted, but here she is at death's door and what decides to pop back into her brain, those mouse-dung memories. Cursing her mind, it all comes back to her.

She was no older than one moon old, barely a kit. The memory was surprisingly clear for something that happened so long ago, yet all of her memories were clear. It came with having a mind like hers.

She had risen from her mother's side for the first time to venture off into the wilderness of the Nursery; at least that's what she had felt she was doing. This was were she met Stormkit, and her first impression of him wasn't the greatest, or one that many cats would wish to obtain. He was a mouse-brain, pure and simple, though as she aged she realized that all cats around her were mouse-brains.

He sat in the corner of the Nursery, only a moon older than her. She would expect him to _know more_ than her, be _smarter_ than her but she was quickly disappointed.

"Hi" he meowed softly.

She looked at him slowly analyzing him based on his appearance, he was a blue-gray tom with longish fur, but not so long that it covered his eyes. his fur was considerably darker than his mother's and as she had never seen Stormkit's father she assumed his coat was from his father's side. His eyes were a bright shade of amber and his nose was dark gray. He looked rather healthy despite a obvious attempt to hide a limp in his right paw most likely caused by a thorn that an apprentice had accidentally gotten into the bedding.

"You should really go to the medicine cat." she replied dryly.

He looked startled and inadvertently sneaked a look at his injured paw. "Why would I need to do that?" he asked innocently.

"Because you have a thorn in your right paw." Cherrykit replied simply. She seemed annoyed by his sudden surprise. "And if you don't go soon you may have a face full of scratches." she growled flexing her claws.

Stormkit let out a cry of fear and leapt away to his mother. And no more than a few heart-beats later she was back at her mother's side being aggressively cleaned and listening her mother scold her between licks.

It was nearly a moon before Stormkit talked to her again, and even then Cherrykit could see the nervous twitching of his tail, the swiveling of his ears at every little sound, and his eyes were not nearly as bright; and for some reason the latter bothered Cherrykit the most.

She endured the twitchy behavior for some time before she snapped when his tail twitched and hit her on the side of the head. "What is your problem? Do you really think I am going to hurt you Stormkit? You're _one_ _moon_ older than me for StarClan's sake!" she said with a twinge of annoyance.

He looked surprised by her sudden outburst and truthfully she was also, it wasn't like her to let annoyance get ahead of her, usually she just bottled it up inside calling everyone a mouse-brain in her head where no one would hear it and punish her.

"I..." he mumbled, "I... don't think you going to uh... hurt me..." he finished awkwardly.

Cherrykit sat unamused her tail flying back in forth in frustration. "_And?_" she hissed through clenched teeth.

Stormkit flinched at the display of anger, "Well... um... you always seem angry... and urm... I guess that does scare me a bit... even if it is irrational."

Cherrykit nodded, she understood better and a new feeling came upon her, _guilt_.

"Well I guess I'm sorry Stormkit, I never meant to scare you." she mumbled looking at the sandy floor of the Nursery. "But it is irrational!" she added quickly looking up to his amber eyes.

Stormkit let out a small chuckle at this remark, and Cherrypaw observed that he seemed friendlier than he had been only moments before. She wasn't sure why, as it was completely irrelevant but she felt happy at this observation.

Without warning Stormkit tackled into her, pushing her ginger fur into the dusty floor of the Nursery. Letting out a muffled gasp, Cherrykit stared up at the blue-gray tom in surprise for a moment, before her gaze turned jaded. She sat up slowly and began to lick her bright pelt free of dirt deliberately ignoring Stormkit who now looked uncomfortable at the fact she was ignoring him totally now.

"Cherrykit?" he asked softly, "I'm sorry, I thought you'd want to play."

She cast her green eyes in his direction for a mere moment before they had moved back to her paw as she cleaned. "I dislike dirt." she meowed coolly. Out of the corner of her eyes she notices Stormkit flinch, a a chord of guilt wavers. She turns to Stormkit who now looks like he's been scolded by his mother and she, as gracefully as possible, tackles the tom, shoving his blue-gray head into the small mud puddle, that must have formed from the recent rain.

He sputters, his amber eyes confused and then, as swift as a fox twists. Sensing what he's trying to do, Cherrykit begins to move, but he seems to be smarter than she thought as he grabs her front paw with his teeth delicately preventing any escape. He flips his body over, pushing all his weight onto her as she thrashed under him annoyed at the sudden change in power. Finally he makes a mistake; as her paws flail she accidentally scratches him. It wasn't a deep scratch, or a painful one, but he made the mistake of flinching at the scratch and momentarily removing a fraction of the weight he had used to pin her down.

Suddenly as quick as an adder she struck, throwing him off of her roughly. He flew a few paw lengths before roughly landing in the sand with a thud. But it didn't seem to faze him as he was almost immediately at his paws dashing back to the play-fight. They tumbled for a few more heartbeats before coming to a rolling stop in a ball of ginger and blue-gray fur.

Panting the two fell onto the dusty floor of the nursery, trying to catch their breath. Finally after another few heart beats of heavy breathing Cherrykit turned to the blue tom next to her. "I think we're going to be good friends." she announced with a smile.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:**

Hey guys! It's Con here with my weekly update!  
I'd like to thank the three people who reviewed! It means a lot and it really motivates me to write chapters. :D

If you're interested in seeing what the two main characters look like you can go to these links (Just remember to change the dots and slashes to their respective equals [ . / ])  
They are located on my DeviantART! (Which is 'ShySummer' )

~ Stormpaw: favdotmeslashd7amktr  
~ Cherrykit: favdotmeslashd7ai7xb

So here is the next chapter of Warped! Excuse any typos or grammar mistakes I am currently looking for a beta to help me, but alas I still do not have one! Enjoy!

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_Disclaimer:_

I do not own Warriors, the Erin Hunter's do. I am not one of the Erin Hunter's no matter how much I want to be.

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_**Chapter Two**_

Normally she loved the one moon age difference that separated her and Stormkit. It allowed for her to blame all of the mischief that she usually got them into, on him. This would allow her to get off with little more than a short scolding while he was the one actually punished for their actions. But as she grew closer to him, she began to do this less and less until she had not done it for more than a half a moon, though it defiantly wasn't because she felt any guilt for her actions. No that would be silly!

But things had changed, and not for the better. As Stormkit was cleaned carefully and thoroughly she sat in the corner of the nursery, her tail puffy and hot anger fuming from her fur. He hadn't seemed to notice it yet, which was normal for him as he could be a bee-brain sometimes but this time his obliviousness was actually bothering her.

Finally after a long and tiresome wash his mother, Clearsnow let him go only for him to stumble into a patch of dirt. Ignoring the yowl of protest that Clearsnow had let out, he stumbled over to Cherrykit. She had noticed the way he stumbled around long ago, though she was slightly surprised that he hadn't outgrown it yet. For StarClan's sake he was 6 moons old today!

"Aren't you a little old to be stumbling around like that?" she meowed snootily.

"Do you know what day it is?" Stormkit asked happily, ignoring her rude comment.

"No," Cherrykit meowed "Is it, time-to-stumble-around-like-a-mousebrain day?"

Stormkit turned his head and gave her a questioning look. His bright amber eyes glowing in the shade of the Nursery. "Did I do something to upset you Cherrykit?"

Instead of answering Cherrykit turned away from him and arched her back in a stretch. She let out an over-emphasized yawn as if to say that he was boring her and lay down, curling up into a small ball. Feigning sleep she began to loudly snore as Stormkit looked on curiously.

Suddenly a loud yowl startled them both, causing Cherrykit to stand up quickly and Stormkit to turn around. "All cats old enough to catch their own prey… " the voice yowled. Letting out an excited squeal Stormkit leapt away completely forgetting her.

"Clearsnow," he cried in excitement. "It's time!"

Clearsnow only nodded, though her son's excitement shone through her light blue eyes like little bright berries. Her near-white fur was freshly groomed and sleek, making her look very skinny and small, though her son was considerably smaller than her.

Before Cherrykit could say anything, Stormkit had already left the Nursery, stumbling like usual towards the Tallrock where Ryestar stood. Ryestar's brown, ginger, and white mottled fur blew in the gusts of the breeze and her yellow eyes glowed in the daylight that seemed to reach over every spot in the moor.

"Warriors of WindClan," began Ryestar her voice like smooth stone. "We are gathered here today to see the apprenticeship of a young kit, as you all know training our young to become valued members of the clan takes time and effort, but it is a very necessary duty to perform. With this in mind I am glad to call Stormkit up to the base of the Tallrock to become an Apprentice of WindClan!"

The Clan let out a series of cheers and Stormkit let out a goofy smile before stumbling up to the base of the Tallrock. As he was small for his age, the boulder loomed over him almost intimidatingly.

Clearing her throat Ryestar began, "Stormkit**, **you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed." While Cherrykit rolled her eyes angrily, Stormkit nodded enthusiastically, urging her to go on. "From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Stormpaw." Ryestar continued, "Your mentor will be Sandstep. I hope Sandstep will pass down all she knows on to you."

Turning to the crowd of cats, a lithe mottled ginger she-cat stood in astonishment. Sandstep had only been made a warrior a few moons ago. Looking on in annoyance Cherrypaw let out a laugh as Sandstep stood awkwardly still, as if she didn't understand that she needed to stand by the newly named Stormpaw. After a few heartbeats and a quick push of the nose by a she-cat standing near her, Sandstep began to make her way towards Ryestar and Stormpaw.

Once the warrior had finally reached the base of the Tallrock, Ryestar wearily continued on, hoping for the rest of the ceremony to go smoothly. "Sandstep**,"** she started. "You are ready to take on an apprentice. You had received excellent training from Brackenheart, and you have shown yourself to be quick and nimble." Many cats nodded at this statement, despite being much smaller than most warriors, Sandstep was one of the fastest and most agile. Despite her foul mood, Cherrykit understood why Ryestar chose Sandstep to be Stormpaw's mentor. _'Maybe she could teach Stormpaw how to not stumble over his paws every heartbeat,'_ she thought cheekily.

"You will be the mentor of Stormpaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to Stormpaw." Finished Ryestar looking down at the two cats curiously. As if on whim the two cats leaned in close to touch noses, but by perhaps a miscalculation, they missed the other's nose entirely and Stormpaw ended up with his muzzle in Sandstep's chest fur. They both drew back quickly as a bunch of muffled giggles erupted from the clan cats gathered around them. Trying again they leaned in, though this time Sandstep leaned down further, allowing for them to touch noses almost perfectly.

The clearing grew quickly for a mere heartbeat as the new apprentice and mentor drew back, until a series of "Stormpaw! Stormpaw! Stormpaw!" cheers began to ring out from various members of the clan, but Cherrykit was not one of them. Turning her back on the cheers she returned to the den sulkily, curling up in a corner of the den ready to spend the whole day sulking like the kit she was.

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Stormpaw was desperate to get away from everyone just for a little alone time. But it seems no matter where he turned to go, another cat was there congratulating him as it was sun-high and most cats were out and about doing chores or just relaxing in camp. This time it is Acornpaw who stands in his path. She is a light brown tabby she-cat with white paws and bright amber eyes.

"Hi Stormpaw," she giggles "Welcome to the apprentice club!" Stormpaw only nodded, unsure of what the apprentice club actually was, but Acornpaw continued. "Now that you're an apprentice of WindClan you get to sleep with the apprentices and warriors under the sky." she meowed, her tail pointing to a dip in the ground where most of the cats slept at night. "And you get to join our secret club, one that only apprentice's of WindClan may be members of."

The she-cat blabbered on and on about her stupid club, but Stormpaw had stopped listening long ago. He was tired out by everything that had happened, he needed to go be alone and relax. He wondered if it would be this tiring all the time to be an apprentice, because if it was he wasn't sure if he wanted to be one. He was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts by Acornpaw poking him lightly. "You're not listening!" she accused. Despite her annoyed tone, she eyes displayed a small amount of hurt and Stormpaw couldn't help but feel sorry.

"Oh I'm sorry," he meowed "I'm just a bit overwhelmed."

The hurt left her eyes and she gave an understanding smile, Acornpaw nodded. "It's okay, I remember my apprentice ceremony, it was very overwhelming for me. But I was saying that Sandstep had requested you to met her soon so she could show you the territory."

Stormpaw nodded, glad to have a reason to get out of the noisy camp. "Thank you Acornpaw." She only nodded before heading in the opposite direction to a group of two young toms. Stormpaw sighed and finally turned around to see Sandstep over by the camp entrance patiently waiting for him. Taking a deep breath he began to trot over to her, stumbling over a few times in the process.

"Hello Stormpaw" Sandstep greeted cheerily. "I'm going to show you around the territory today, and maybe if we have time give you your first hunting lesson!"

Nodding Stormpaw followed her out of the camp, at first she trotted at a slow pace, but she began to pick up speed and soon Stormpaw was having trouble keeping up with her. Just as he was about to give up and fall over onto the dirt she slowed. Turning to him she pointed her tail to a river that snaked it's way through the moor. "This is the border between WindClan and ThunderClan," she meowed. "Just on the other side of the river is ThunderClan's territory."

"Do not under any circumstances wander into ThunderClan territory." she warned. "We are in a shaky relationship with ThunderClan and it's leader Goosestar and they may attack you if you trespass on their territory despite you're age." Gulping Stormpaw nodded, and Sandstep now satisfied turned and began to run towards the smell of water, with him stumbling behind her trying to desperately keep up.

Finally they reached the lake, and he stopped in amazement. Sure he had heard of the lake, the giant collection of water that all four Clans bordered but he didn't expect it to be so _big! _Sandstep let out a small chuckle at the young tom's amazement and began, "This is the lake, all four clans surround it equally. It is said that once upon a time the Clans lived in giant forest but were forced to move due to twolegs destroying the forest. So four cats were sent, one from each clan to find a new territory, and they found the lake. Now personally I think the legend is an old kit's tale, but even if it is, it sure is one inspiring tale."

Listening in wonder Stormpaw let out a laugh at the thought of all four clans working together. Now that would be a miracle.

"Over there where all the Pine and Cedar are is ShadowClan's territory." meowed Sandstep, her tail pointing across the lake to a part of land almost completely covered in cone shaped trees. "And over there," she meowed pointing to a marshy area covered in bushes and reeds, "Is RiverClan's territory."

Finally she pointed to a group of leafy trees on the other side of the lake, "That is ThunderClan territory." she announced. "Try to memorize the territories." she urged. "It will help you if you ever have the misfortune to cross any of them."

They continued to tour the territory of WindClan till the sun had nearly disappeared from the horizon entirely. Finally after visiting the territory by Horseplace, Sandstep called it a day and they began to walk back to camp. When they finally reached camp she turned to him with a determined gleam in her eyes "Make sure to get lots of rest because tomorrow I'm going to give you you're first hunting lesson." she announced excitedly.

Stormpaw only let out a yawn in response and Sandstep with a light laugh showed him where to sleep and soon he was curled up around his fellow apprentice's sleeping in the open air. It hadn't even occurred to him that he hadn't talked to or even seen Cherrykit since his ceremony until he was deep in sleep.


End file.
